What EXACTLY does the BIBLE say about BAPTISM? Book, Chapter, and Verse? And WHY was JESUS Baptized?

Hello, Beautiful Homemakers!

 

I like to start off my day with prayer while I'm still in bed, and then eventually have my physical breakfast with my spiritual breakfast ("Breakfast and the Bible").  I am not always able to begin my day with the Bible, but it's a goal.  Some days are easier than others.  Sometimes I'm running out the door and can't read it until bedtime.

I learned long ago to give back to God a portion of the money we receive from a paycheck or other income. The New Testament emphasizes giving with a cheerful heart the amount of money you choose.  It doesn't have to be 10%, but that is a good goal.  If you aren't used to giving, be consistent with giving 1%, and when that becomes fairly easy, up it to 2%, and so on.  We like to give the first part of our money to the Lord's work: whatever work is being done in Jesus' name, whether it be to our church, to Christian charities, or directly to other people in need.

In the same way, I like to give God a portion of my videos.  I've been praying about this one for a very long time.  I want to get it right, and it's amazing how God provides answers to my prayers.  

While I was putting the final video together a minister's sermon kept coming to my mind called WHY was JESUS Baptized? and in it I discovered that I had left out 3 verses on baptism from my original list.  Jerry Roman's sermon was soooo good that I asked permission to paraphrase a portion of it.

His answer to me asking if I could use my paraphrase of a portion of his sermon was, "Hey sister, your paraphrase is spot on. Perfect!!! God blessed me with my thoughts and words and if they can be used to bless others...I'm all for it." 

I think you will have a new appreciation for WHY Jesus was baptized after listening to what Jerry has pointed out. I know that I didn't see the full ramifications of WHY Jesus was baptized until I heard it!

Following is the Book, Chapter, and Verses I used during the first half of my video so that YOU can look them up in your own favorite Bible translation to make sure I'm not adding to the word of God.  I love The Simple English Bible translation from the 1980's. It's clear, concise, and most importantly, accurate.  I read each of these baptism verses IN THEIR CONTEXT. 

Let's dig in and see exactly what the Bible says about baptism: 

Matthew 3:13-17

Matthew 28:16-20  "The Great Commission"

Mark 1:1-11 

Mark 16:14-16

Luke 3:3; 21-22

John 1:29-34

John 3:1-11; 22-26

John 4:1-2

Acts 2:37-41  Peter's first sermon

Acts 8:9-13

Acts 8:29-39 Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch (btw the book of Isaiah that the Ethiopian officer was reading was written approximately 700 years before Jesus was born)

Acts 9-1:19

Acts 10:34-48

Acts 16:14-15; 25-33

Acts 18:7-11

Acts 19:1-7

Acts 22:6-16

Romans 6:1-11 

Galatians 3:23-27

Ephesians 5:25-33

Colossians 2:11-15

Titus 3:3-11

1 Peter 3:13-21   

Typology: The ark is the "type" and the church aka the body of Christ is the "antitype."  Noah, the builder of the ark is the "type" and Christ, the builder of the church, is the "antitype."  Just like in the time of Noah, we must get into the ark, and go through the waters of baptism, to be saved. 

 An example of a typology chart, from preacher Stanley Sherman's newsletter, Bringing L.I.F.E. to Your Congregation, February 2024. Mr. Sherman has been preaching for almost 60 years.

 

Baptismal water is not magical, and it is not the water that saves us.  If we have no faith in Christ when we are baptized, then we are just taking a bath.  Faith must come before baptism.  The order does matter. It is during baptism that we die to sin and are buried in water for the remission of our sins. Then we are raised to walk in a new life with Christ! (Romans 6 again)  

I'm not denying ANY of the "Faith" verses.  I am pointing out that it is faith and obedience.  (Faith without obedience means you died seconds after believing.)

2 Thessalonians 1:8  "obey"  [at the very end of the video I mention this verse again but accidentally say "first" Thessalonians.]

Hebrews 5:9  "obey"

Mark 16:16  "and" 

If you are refusing baptism, are you standing on what the Bible says? Or books written by men? 

Can you fall away after baptism?

I tell the story of Naaman the Leper. Many Bible teachers say that Naaman’s dipping in the Jordan River was a foreshadowing of the ONE baptism to come, but we can’t get baptized grudgingly or because other people want us to do it. Faith and repentance must come first.  

Being re-baptized IS allowed in the Bible.  [History is full of people being re-baptized.  One reason we had the Protestant Reformation 500 years ago was for the right to get re-baptized as a believing adult.  Anabaptist means baptized twice.]

No matter what your sins are, Jesus awaits you with open arms saying, “Come! Follow me!”

So weep out your repentance and receive God’s grace and love, and then get immersed.  It isn’t a work on our part…it’s God’s work that takes place during baptism! We just have to obey and submit to Him.

 ***

The remainder of this video is paraphrased from a much longer sermon written by preacher Jerry Roman, entitled Why Was Jesus Baptized?:

Jesus himself was baptized in the Jordan River, not for the remission of his sins, for he lived a sinless life, but to fulfill all righteousness.  Jesus’ baptism was the public anointing of God’s announcement to the world that this baby from Bethlehem, this man from Nazareth, was in fact His SON. 

Upon His baptism, the heavens opened to Jesus, and when we are baptized, heaven becomes open to US, as well!

In submitting to baptism, Jesus started his ministry that would end on a cruel cross of pain.  He chose to take our place – our sin, our guilt, our death, and our punishment. 

And when WE are baptized, we take Jesus’ place – we are baptized into His perfect life, into His death, and into His resurrection (Rom 6, vs 1-7 as I’ve read several times now).

Jesus put on humanity, and we put on Christ.

How do we know this?  Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Paul writes in Titus 3:4-7 (NLT)  But—When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.

Jesus Christ is the One commissioned by God to be our Savior, and our Sacrifice.  Why did animal sacrifices end? Because Jesus Christ is the Holy Lamb of God and He was the final sacrifice.  Remember in John 1:29 when John the Baptist looked at Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Peter, in 1 Peter 1:17-25 (NLT) said, And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of Him during your time here as “temporary residents.” For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.  God chose Him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days He has been revealed for your sake.

Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.

You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart. For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. As the Scriptures say (in the OT),

“People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades. But the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.

Which refers to 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 that tells us what the Good News/the Gospel, is, and then that leads us to 2 Thessalonians 1:8 which tells us to OBEY the Good News. Well how do you do that? We read in Romans 6:3-4 which tells us how to OBEY the Gospel. 

Bible verses point backwards and forwards to other books and verses.  You MUST read and study the New Testament as a whole.  You cannot refer to verses saying “faith only” and ignore other verses such as those that tell you to obey and get baptized, or verses that tell you that what you DO matters, and that your good works prove your faith.

Remember that “faith alone” is only found in one place in the Bible, James 2:24, “Don’t you see that a person is righteous before God because of his actions? He cannot be made right by ‘faith’ alone.” 

When we are baptized, not only are we immersed into Jesus’ death, where we die to sin and have our sins washed away, but we are baptized into His resurrection — where we rise up from the watery grave born again, thus removing us from Satan’s power and putting us into God’s family, the church, which the Bible also calls Christ’s body. [In Ephesians 1:22-23, Colossians 1:18, and 1 Corinthians 12:12-27]

Instead of God seeing us as wretched sinners, God will see us clothed in the righteousness of His perfect Son, Jesus Christ – the only life who can stand up to the scrutiny that will occur on Judgment Day. 

When we put Christ on in baptism, God will declare to US, “You are my daughter and I love you!  I’m very pleased with you!”

After your baptism, you can be confident that your identity, and your eternity, do not depend on who YOU are or what YOU’VE done, but on the fact that you now belong to the one true God, because of what Jesus has done.

Because of all these blessings, your baptism should be the single most important event that has ever happened in your life.

If it isn’t, or if you haven’t yet been baptized, what are you waiting for?

Arise! Be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on the name of the Lord, JESUS CHRIST!

Love,

Janine

 

PS:  You can call any Church of Christ near you and they will go over the Scriptures with you to make sure you understand what baptism means, and then they will baptize you immediately if you so desire.

 *** Please note that the Church of Christ is NOT affiliated with the United Church of Christ, nor the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints aka Mormans.***

 

 

Would you like to read Michael Shank's book

Muscle and a Shovel

?

I am giving away 5 copies.  

Please send me an e-mail through the contact page and give me your address. 

[only to be used to send you this book!]